Linda Miles
"Oh don't thank me, I've got money on you seeing the week out." Linda Miles is a senior officer at Wentworth Correctional Center. Linda is seen as a dry and sarcastic person by both prisoners and the staff of Wentworth. Giving such iconic one liners as 'Ill just ring Mr Whippy.." and replying to Joan Ferguson "No. Jamie Oliver." after Ferguson wanted to know if the meal was made by inmates. Linda is often seen roaming the prison, mostly putting bets on fights and receiving money for doing favours for prisoners to feed her gambling addiction. Linda gets nicknamed 'Smiles' early in season 1 by Franky due to Linda's cold demeanor. Jake on his first day at Wentworth calls Linda a 'real hoot.' Linda is portrayed by Jacquie Brennan. Background "'''I love that she brings that outside life, in with her. So I always know where she is going at the end of the day"- Jacquie discussing Linda in 2017 during a Wentworth QandA''' Linda is known as a happy-go-lucky officer who loves a drink and being social. Linda's career path before corrections according to the Foxtel website was as a teacher, leaving teaching for another challenge. Linda's character has been nicknamed ironically 'Smiles' due to the fact Linda rarely smiles, and is known for witty sarcastic remarks and sassing many prisoners and colleagues. Season 1 and 2 In Series One, Linda was a minor officer. All that we knew about her was that she was a fun loving officer who enjoyed a drink, and was social, often being the one to organise the after hours staff drinks. She was a friend to Vera who she often tried to invite out on these dates. Officer Miles was also present when Vera's mother visited Wentworth and blurted out the truth about Vera's "boyfriend". Linda first appears in 1x2 in a governor's meeting about the ongoing investigation into the former Governor's death. Vera states the new security measures while Linda states to Vera "You try patrolling the compound with no guarantee it wont happen again." with Vera telling them thats why they patrol in pairs, Linda replies back "All they need is two shivs." Linda slots Liz after Liz is intoxicated during a prison event and in later events in the middle of season 1, Linda and other officers argue about changes to isolation with Linda bringing up the point of officers safety. Linda in 1x10 disagrees with the way that Erica decides to set things up between Bea and Jacs, claiming that the governor was stirring them both. Later Linda and a guard slot Bea for killing Jacs. In Series Two, Linda takes on a more prominent role in events of the prison. We find out that she has a severe gambling addiction, and is therefore open to smuggling things in for the prisoners for a price but refuses to help smuggle gear in. Franky is fully aware of Linda's problems, and uses it to her advantage, making Officer Miles essentially working for Franky. During season 2 Linda is suspended after Franky attacked Bates, and while suspended has a night with Fletch and when Vera comes to apologise to Fletch, Linda brings wine glasses to the door and asks Vera about her mother. A day later Linda returns from suspension asking Vera if they are fine, Vera agrees until much later on, where Vera scolds Linda about the Garden Project and Linda remarks "Is this about me and Fletch?" and telling Vera to 'Lighten up" Vera asks if Linda was complicit or simply negligent when asking about Doreen's time alone in the garden shed, Linda tells Vera the truth (off-screen) about what happened. The two have a shaky friendship from then on. Linda is later seen rushing to medical with other officers after the fight between Bea and Franky and then again seen arguing and telling Nash to leave as he hasn't been approved for his visit yet. Season 3 and 4 Linda's gambling addiction is still at the forefront of her character, In season 3 Linda is still up to old tricks and has possibly patched things up with Vera after their friendship turned shaky at the end of series 2. During the riot at the start of season 3 Linda is in the room when Ferguson refuses to open the door to solitary and when Channing overules Ferguson, Linda gives an angry look at Ferguson. When Fletcter refuses to return to work Linda tells Vera the truth of what happened during the riot and that Channing took over, with Vera saying that they don't try to make deals with prisoners. During 3x8 gives an amazing one liner to a stunned Jess Warner, when she asks Linda if they can get in some ice-cream and Linda replies "Yeah... I'll just ring Mr Whippy." During 3x9 is seen with another officer bringing Doreen and Josh back from the hospital. During 3x11, Linda and several other prisoners take Ferguson down a rung by breaking into her office, Linda uses her computer skills to make it look like Vera was in the governors officer during the night and watches on as Will is escorted out of the staff room by the police. During the events of 3x12, Linda alerts the governor that Doreen's baby has gone missing and orders and immediate lockdown as a result, Linda also helps evacuate the prison after Ferguson starts a fire in industries, Linda tells Vera that they need to let the firies deal with the fire. In season 4, Linda lets the governor know the prisoners hav e returned from Walford, and that the staff are the only ones who know Ferguson is in the new isolation unit, until Doreen sees Joan and Linda orders Doreen and the guard away. Linda also says after a staff meeting to Will and says that he should of let Ferguson burn as now they have to look after both the prisoners and Ferguson as a result. We see her human side during 4x3 when Ferguson is attacked in the showers, Bea has to snap Linda out of her state of shock and Linda goes to radio it in but Bea tells her not to, Linda then says 'Look at her' and Ferguson tells them both that she is 'okay'. Linda and Bea help Ferguson get dressed and out of the showers and Linda helps her back to her unit where she tells Ferguson she needs the nurse, Ferguson refuses and says she will be 'fine', she tells Linda to leave and Linda does so, Linda leaves the cell and collects herself swearing under her breath and taking a moment in realising what had just happened. (although stunned and shocked) She manages to maintain her presence. Linda had to not only deal with the guilt of letting that happen to Joan, but the aftermath of the prisoners wanting revenge on Ferguson, Linda keeps quiet during a meeting in 4x4 about the attack on Joan saying that how her injuries happened were Ferguson moving into general. The back half of season 4 see's the intensifying relationship between Bea and Allie, and when Allie is given a hotshot in 4x12 Linda tells the governor that Will has gone with Allie, as a result of this all other officers are searched and Linda is clean, as Maxine has to go for treatment Linda goes and later sets up a call between Maxine and Bea, Linda is also in the room when Allie goes into cardiac arrest and is ushered out of the room with Maxine, until they get a heartbeat back. Season 5 onwards In 5x1 Linda is seen guarding the courtyard during the memorial service for Bea, and later showing Allie back into the prison. In 5x2 gives a foul look to Franky when she opens the door to the brawler. During 5x11 when Ferguson faces kangaroo court, Linda is taken as a hostage and the prison is put on lockdown. As the kangaroo court gets more advanced to the point the prisoners lynch Ferguson, Vera makes a break for it and goes into the compound and t ells Billie Latham to drop the shiv, as Latham threatened to kill Linda as a result. Vera then mentions to Latham she has two more months left to serve and that killing an officer would get her 20 years, after that Vera then shouts at Latham to finally drop the shiv and she does, letting go of Linda, and Linda gets back to safety. In 5x12 Linda escorts Ferguson back to general and goes back into the staffroom where she makes a great point about Ferguson, that someone is helping her on the outside 'Just look at that Jesper guy..' she says as she is leaving the room. Linda is later seen in the dining room helping out with the code black and requesting an ambulance. During the last moments of season 5 is seen taking the roster for night lockup and calls Doyle's name when she doesn't respond she goes to look in her cell and shows that she isn't there. In season 6 we see Linda still running the fight club and when Ruby is introduced to fight club during 6x2, Linda is the one who lets them into a storage room where they all watch a fight, and during 6x8 she breaks protocol to tell Allie that Ruby has a brain aneurysm and that she needs to 'stop the fight', during 6x12 Linda and many officers are among the suspects questioned by police in relation to the murder of Joan Ferguson and Linda brings fight club forward for the fight between Ruby and Drago, which later ends up being Rita and Drago, Linda gets worried during the fight and tries to stop it but prisoners push her out of the way, and Rita ends up killing Drago and Linda later slots Rita. Comparisons to Prisoner In many ways, Linda is somewhat of a tribute to Officer Anne Yates in the early episodes of Prisoner, most notably that both of them did favours and were driven by money. Miles is also very similar to senior officer Colleen Powell, sharing a similar dry and sarcastic sense of humour, and not having any of the prisoners nonsense. Notes * Linda's nickname is 'Smiles' * Linda's Sierra number changes from sierra 1 to sierra 6 in later seasons * The Nickname of 'Smiles' was originally said by Franky Doyle, early in season 1 (it was Nicole da Silva who came up with the nickname) * Linda is portrayed by Jacquie Brennan * During a Wentworth QandA Jacquie Brennan said the one liner she loved the most was the Mr Whippy line and the Jamie Oliver line. Appearances Category:Wentworth (2013) Characters Category:2013 Staff Category:Females Category:Protagonists Category:2013 Arrivals Category:Prisoner Wentworth Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Bent screws Category:Characters